Knitting - help and advice super thread!

janmaree

Broken Hearted Road, I'm sorry that what I said undermined your confidence, I would never knowingly have done that and it was another poster that I was responding to at the time. What you have described in terms of adjusting your pattern impresses me as the most that I feel comfortable in doing is to take the differences between two sizes and either add or subtract for a larger or smaller size that wasn't provided by the pattern. I would urge you to disregard anything/everything that I said previously and wait for the more expert knitters to come back to the thread, their knowledge and experience are great and will certainly reassure you. As the saying goes in our family, "ignore half of what she says and totally disregard the rest!"

OffalyMedic

Update on decreasing size of cardigan: so I went into my wool shop and they were very helpful, suggested I go down in wool weight and needle size, so off home now to start the project will keep ye posted

janmaree

Best of luck with it, hope there might be a picture or two down the road?!!!

Broken Hearted Road

Any idea where I could get a yarn bowl here in Ireland?

My first preference would be a wooden yarn bowl.

Something important I'm looking for in a yarn bowl is that the opening for the yarn is open and not closed if you know what I mean. Reason for this is that I can lift a project in and out and pack it into a bag or whatever. A closed opening like a hole means that the project is married to the bowl until the end of the yarn.

I checked in some local shops to me and also some online shops like:
This Is Knit
Thewoolshop.ie
Springwools and other online yarn shops in Ireland.

kandr10

Broken Hearted Road wrote: »

Any idea where I could get a yarn bowl here in Ireland?

My first preference would be a wooden yarn bowl.

Something important I'm looking for in a yarn bowl is that the opening for the yarn is open and not closed if you know what I mean. Reason for this is that I can lift a project in and out and pack it into a bag or whatever. A closed opening like a hole means that the project is married to the bowl until the end of the yarn.

I checked in some local shops to me and also some online shops like:
This Is Knit
Thewoolshop.ie
Springwools and other online yarn shops in Ireland.

You could knit one lol!
http://www.loveknitting.com/yarn-bowl-knitting-pattern-by-molly-conroy
This one looks like what you describe, though it's dear.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B00YZSBFDY/ref=mp_s_a_1_5?qid=1465923224&sr=8-5&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=yarn+bowls+for+knitting&dpPl=1&dpID=51q713sis3L&ref=plSrch

Calina

Broken Hearted Road wrote: »

Any idea where I could get a yarn bowl here in Ireland?

My first preference would be a wooden yarn bowl.

Something important I'm looking for in a yarn bowl is that the opening for the yarn is open and not closed if you know what I mean. Reason for this is that I can lift a project in and out and pack it into a bag or whatever. A closed opening like a hole means that the project is married to the bowl until the end of the yarn.

I checked in some local shops to me and also some online shops like:
This Is Knit
Thewoolshop.ie
Springwools and other online yarn shops in Ireland.

I don't know if they are still there but Arnotts had a couple of ceramic ones a month or two ago and they had the opening as you required.

BengaLover

Hi, is anyone looking for 2ply cones of cotton?

wmpdd3

I've think I've seen your add, but I in the middle of buying a new car so no yarn this month!!!

It looks like great quality though and perfect colour for the season.

BengaLover

If you look on Pinterest there's ways of making them from jars and such. Yarn bowls that is.

Mystery Egg

Hi folks. I would like to give knitting a try for the first time since primary school. I thought I would start off easy with a blanket, made of squares stitched together. I would like to make it really, really soft. Can any seasoned knitters recommend the kind of wool I should buy, as well as the kind of needles? Your advice is most appreciated. Any other tips would also be welcome.

tringle

Aran weight yarn is the easiest to knit with, chunky will knit quicker but aran weight is the easiest to hold if your not used to knitting. You will need 4.5mm or 5mm needles. If you are just knitting squares don't get the longest ones, you wont need the length and they may hit your inner elbows when knitting. A knit stitch is not "square" so by casting on a number of stitches and knitting the same amount of rows you will have a rectangle not a square. Look at the tension information on the wool band and use this to calculate your stitches and rows. For example my ball of chunky says 10cm is 15 stitches and 20 rows, so if I wanted squares of 30cm I would need 45 stitches and 60 rows. Your tension may be different but this is a good guide.

wmpdd3

Brilliant advice above.

Also have a look on youtube for the 10 stitch blanket.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXMP2sd3yWk

Its a really easy way of knitting a blanket from the inside out like a swiss roll!

You can stop anytime you want and theres no sewing up.

Again short 4.5 needles and aran weight yarn would work perfectly.

Broken Hearted Road

I'm in the middle of working on a cardigan. I used a cotton yarn. The gauge swatch that I knitted and washed turned out beautifully. I'm not finished with my cardigan but I'm coming to the end of the back piece of the cardigan. I'm not very happy with it due to some slight imperfections but maybe they are only visible to me because I'm a perfectionist in knitting. The stockinette stitch in parts is slightly crooked or zigzag and some stitches throughout came out looser than the rest.

I will link a picture or two in the follow up post. Tell me what you think.

I've been knitting for a few years and never blocked before. Do you think would blocking help at fixing these imperfections?

I ordered some rust proof blocking pins online so I hope to block this tonight.

Broken Hearted Road

Picture of stockinette stitch

wmpdd3

This may be due to the weight of the cotton while knitting, dragging the stitches when hung form he needle? Did the pattern recommend cotton? I have only hand knitting with cotton twice and I wasn't happy with either. I now use 50/50 cotton acrylic.

Blocking should help but I block the two garments I made annually, they really need it, they are just so heavy! Drying flat is also essential.

I'm trying to think of other reasons you'd end up with twisted stitches, I doubt you started to wrap the yarn around the needle cockwise all of a sudden? Is there a YO pattern or any other stitches that would create a weakness in the body of knitting?

Gatica

I agree that some of the stitches looks twisted, in which case blocking won't make a difference. However, overall the whole thing can be smoothed out a little by blocking and you can also use a thin needle to manually rearrange the looseness of some of the stitches...

Broken Hearted Road

Can I ask for some help please with a colour scheme for my next knit.

I like this pattern here for a girl:

http://www.loveknitting.com/girls-viktoria-cardigan-in-millamia-merino-wool

I found a yarn that I would like to use and it comes in many colours.

http://www.loveknitting.com/katia-merino-baby

I would like to knit this in my county colours of maroon and white. The body of the work in white and the bottom band, neck band and button bands in maroon. I would like to add more maroon and thinking about doing these in maroon. I had a look at the pattern and the sleeves are done separately so it can be achievable. How would this look?

Another colour scheme I was thinking about is white and pink, with the body of the piece in white and the band's in pink. Maybe pink sleeves. I really like vintage florals, think Cath Kidston stuff and I saw some foral buttons in a few shops and maybe pick up on the pink with a pink foral button.

Broken Hearted Road

It took me a while to pick out a colour scheme for my next knit but I choose maroon and white and I'm nearly ready to begin work on it. I put in a large order of wool last week and it arrived this morning and I'm delighted with the wool. It's beautiful and soft and I'm looking forward to knitting with it. Unfortunately the online shop had two whites in the collection and I thought I ordered a pure white but it was more of an off white or creamy white. So it won't be exactly like the Galway maroon and white colours. 😥 I'll have to make do with it because I don't have enough funds or time to put in another order of wool. I'm looking forward to it all the same. I'll have to go button shopping before the weekend as well to find a button in maroon or off white. I like wooden buttons too but I don't know how they will hold up in a wash. Does anyone have experience of using wooden buttons similar to what you would find on Aran knitwear? Do they hold up well in a wash? Or do they break?

wmpdd3

As long as you buy them in a yarn shop they will were fine. I have 5 year old baby clothes with wooden buttons that are fine.

I have bought buttons in craft shops that were only for scrap-booking, obviously they wont survive the wash.

Good luck with your garment, are you on ravelry? its handy for tracking your projects.

OffalyMedic

Best website online for good quality but cheap wool??

Broken Hearted Road

shaunac93 wrote: »

Best website online for good quality but cheap wool??

I ordered from springwools.ie and thewoolshop.ie before and I was happy with them. There's also trimwoolshop.ie but I never ordered from them before.

wmpdd3

www.iceyarns.com www.woolwarehouse.co.uk

janmaree

Maybe it's my budget :eek: but I'm not sure there's such a thing as cheap wool these days except for clearance items. I like to buy from Bergere de France, their wool is really lovely and quite reasonable in comparison to some other sites. I usually go to www.bergeredefrance.co.uk but www.bergeredefrance.fr is easy to use, the prices are in Euro and you can translate the pages to English as you go. I find delivery charges work out better on the UK site, if memory serves, my last order was "free delivery" as I used my Parcel Motel address and only paid the €3.95 PM fee. Was just on their site and they're offering £10 off orders exceeding £49 until 18th September which isn't bad and sterling isn't too bad at the moment either (I think!) Other than that, I usually go to Deramores and Love Knitting, sometimes Amazon but a lot of the sellers there won't sell to Irish customers, talk about shooting themselves in the foot.
Hope it helps. J.

ShaShaBear

I'd normally go through Loveknitting too - my orders are usually quite sizeable as I'd be buying enough yarn for several repeats of a project for my Etsy store and I get a lot of discount codes. But I agree with the above poster, it's very hard to get cheap yarn these days unless you get lucky in a sale.
Aliexpress do yarn as well, and I have ordered a few skeins off them now and again. Their cotton is very soft and not splitty at all - but the downside is that you can never be sure of the weight, and they never give you the yardage

Broken Hearted Road

That's right. I don't think there is such a thing as cheap wool. In my local yarn shops 50g ball of wool can be anything from 5 to 8 euro.

Usually when I order online my preference is towards Irish online shops and I used springwools and thewoolshop.ie. I LOVE ThisIsKnit in Dublin. They have an online shop too but I like trekking across the country to go into the shop instead of buying online.

Sometimes I might order from the UK and the sites I would go to are Deramores and LoveKnitting. I recently ordered from LoveKnitting myself and I love my new batch of wool. Delivery time was fantastic. Despatched on a Thursday and arrived the following Tuesday morning in the mail.

I'm hoping the UK will turn things around and they remain in the EU. I dread to think if they proceed to leave how things will turn out - like custom taxes. I don't think Irish online shops come up to the range that Deramores and LoveKnitting has.

I haven't knitted garments for adults yet but I was to take on such a project, I did some rough calculations just for fun and I'd be spending the guts of €120+. Imagine custom taxes on top of this. 😖

ShaShaBear

Broken Hearted Road wrote: »

That's right. I don't think there is such a thing as cheap wool. In my local yarn shops 50g ball of wool can be anything from 5 to 8 euro.

Usually when I order online my preference is towards Irish online shops and I used springwools and thewoolshop.ie. I LOVE ThisIsKnit in Dublin. They have an online shop too but I like trekking across the country to go into the shop instead of buying online.

Sometimes I might order from the UK and the sites I would go to are Deramores and LoveKnitting. I recently ordered from LoveKnitting myself and I love my new batch of wool. Delivery time was fantastic. Despatched on a Thursday and arrived the following Tuesday morning in the mail.

I'm hoping the UK will turn things around and they remain in the EU. I dread to think if they proceed to leave how things will turn out - like custom taxes. I don't think Irish online shops come up to the range that Deramores and LoveKnitting has.

I haven't knitted garments for adults yet but I was to take on such a project, I did some rough calculations just for fun and I'd be spending the guts of €120+. Imagine custom taxes on top of this. 😖

I do crochet and made a gorgeous poncho from an acrylic-wool blend (admittedly more acrylic than wool) and it set me back €40 just on materials! People just look at you crooked when you try to add your time onto that! I think baby stuff is great - gets done quicker and people are far more willing to pay a bit extra for something unique for a baby!

Broken Hearted Road

ShaShaBear wrote: »

I do crochet and made a gorgeous poncho from an acrylic-wool blend (admittedly more acrylic than wool) and it set me back €40 just on materials! People just look at you crooked when you try to add your time onto that! I think baby stuff is great - gets done quicker and people are far more willing to pay a bit extra for something unique for a baby!

Lol! Some people don't really understand what's involved with handknits either money or time. Then with the likes of pennies and dunnes selling inexpensive clothing that comes into the equation too. Like a jumper in pennies could cost what? €12, €15, €20. Some people might expect a hand-knit garment to match the price you'd find in pennies or dunnes as an example.

janmaree

ShaShaBear wrote: »

I'd be buying enough yarn for several repeats of a project for my Etsy store

Off topic a little but I wondered how you find working on Etsy and if you feel that it's worth your while? I browse there quite a bit but find when I look for traditional Aran knitwear, which I love doing most of all, it seems to be a mish-mash of "vintage" sweaters that I would have expected to find on Ebay rather than Etsy. Anything new seems to vary in price from so low as to be below cost to so high that it'd make you gasp! Just interested to hear what you think as an Etsy seller, if you have the time that is (round of applause going on here btw!)

ShaShaBear

janmaree wrote: »

Off topic a little but I wondered how you find working on Etsy and if you feel that it's worth your while? I browse there quite a bit but find when I look for traditional Aran knitwear, which I love doing most of all, it seems to be a mish-mash of "vintage" sweaters that I would have expected to find on Ebay rather than Etsy. Anything new seems to vary in price from so low as to be below cost to so high that it'd make you gasp! Just interested to hear what you think as an Etsy seller, if you have the time that is (round of applause going on here btw!)

As far as using the site itself, I really enjoy it. I've made more sales through it than I have through word of mouth or through Facebook. I find the advantage it has is that it only shows people "hand-made" so there is a prerequisite for people to understand that they are going to be "paying" for what they order. It reaches a much larger audience faster and since you can list things previously made OR things made to order, you can get the cost of materials up-front with an order rather than asking for deposits or buying a load of yarn for a project that someone ends up never collecting/paying for.

wmpdd3

I love etsy, but I think the company its self has become difficult to work with and of course costs have risen in the last 8 years on there. I've had billing issues and an issue with 'patern free trial', of course its email to the US for support which can be slow.

I think the best part of etsy is the filters.
I can search:
handmade
made in ireland
knit
wool


etc,

sure there are some mass produced items on there that shouldn't be there but the really established makers make shopping there worthwhile.

Like any business, your costings need to be bang on right down to your postage and packing. Nobody wants to work for free.